Wenger Explains The Complexities Of The Transfer Market

We all know we need a keeper and a defender. Many of us believe Wenger and his team are working hard and we have time till the end of the month. A short, vocal majority is going crazy or perhaps just being themselves.

If you have any doubt that Arsene is not serious you should read these comments (that appear in this article),

Let’s still not be fooled. We are short at the back, and we need to add. If we manage to do that, then we are better equipped.

But contrary to what the Misery Brigade think, it’s not easy to sign players in the current market. Wenger described the Koscielny signing as, “Unbelievable difficult”.

Then he went on to explain the present market problems.

For years we have no money. Now we have money and we cannot find players to buy. Many teams who have good players do not want to sell. Germany for example is in a very strong financial situation. Clubs in France are well managed and don’t need to sell. In Italy you have less players who can strengthen Arsenal now. In England the transfer market is flat.

It should be obvious to anyone with some practical experience of decision making and negotiations (in any walk of life) that at this level nothing is simple or easy. It should also be clear that all teams are having difficulties in signing players.

Mascherano wants to leave, Benitez wants him, Liverpool can use the money, but Inter can’t afford him. So even when all parties are willing the deal can’t be done. The same can be said about Mascherano and Farca. In other cases some clubs just don’t want to sell as Farca discovered when a certain English club gave them the finger.

When Wenger says clubs in Germany and France are very strong financially, we have to acknowledge it’s the hard reality and it’s very difficult to negotiate with them. Mertesacker was just one name that came out in the open, I’m sure we must have enquired about many, many more.

It’s also not difficult to understand that the quality in Italy has gone down. There are very few top quality players available and that would automatically mean that the clubs who have them will want a king’s ransom.

One aspect of the financial crisis that is affecting almost all football clubs is that they don’t have much money to spend. But more important is the ramification that clubs value their assets that much more simply because they don’t have anything else. In such a scenario it’s not difficult to understand that most clubs will want exorbitant values.

Arsenal have a phenomenal scouting network, perhaps the best in the world, but that doesn’t mean we can buy anyone, anytime.

Even in this case it is important to realize that some players will want to leave and some clubs will have to sell. These clubs will try and hold on till they can get the best price or till the last moments are passing them by.

By reading tabloids people assume that, for instance, Schwarzer will be available if we upped our bid by a million or so.

It is such a naive way of looking at things. Let’s assume, for the sake of discussion, that we made a bid of around 2 Mn in May. It was rejected.

Now, if we made a bid of 4 Mn within a few days after that do you realize what would happen? The selling club would know it has a strong hand and would ask for 6 or 8. If we went till 8 they would ask for 10. And so on. Nobody is openly going to come and say if you up your bid by a million or so we will sell. And no one is going to sell as long as they know there is still time and they can squeeze more unless they need the money asap.

Now that a new manager is in place, Schwarzer has made his feelings known, and the window is drawing to a close, Fulham also know that they cannot ask for a lot more. So there is a good chance that we will get the deal done in the coming weeks. Even then a possibility exists that Mark Hughes changes his mind at the last minute (out of spite or any other reason). Similarly, the possibility of signing Given has also opened up. It’s not a matter of a million or two but the dynamics of a very complex market.

Some people who have not been involved in business negotiations or any kind of top level decision making might not get this easily. That is understandable. But when these people go ballistic on the basis of their naiveté and ignorance, it gets really tedious and annoying.

Let me reaffirm, we all want a couple of additions. That is a relevant and valid discussion. It gets tricky when the Who we get and When aspects come into the picture. It’s not only a matter of intent; it’s not a matter of the manager being a scrooge; it’s not down to any man’s whims and fancies; and nowhere near as simple as the simpletons would have you believe.

The least we can do is show some respect for someone who has to deal with these intricacies and uncertainty every day.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Comment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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We have had a problem in the GK position and CB for years not just this transfer windom.If the people Wenger and Gazidis who we pay millions every years cant source tha players we need what is the point of them being at the club.

My thoughts execatly its not like Arsene just realised the problem he has known for so long thats why he signed sylvester and campbell as short term solutions so to me these are just excuses the other top clubs are facing the same market problems bt even liverpool is signing with their tight budget. No Wonder viera left, Henry left and Fabregas wants to leave. AW is just a stubborn miser

So we have a problem in the GK and CB position for years, I guess you’ll also say Denilson, Diaby, Clichy and some others are useless, and that the manager has not winning mentality or no tactical knowledge and stuff like that.

I just wonder with all those issues why are we still in the Champions League. Why do the other 17 clubs even exist?

On a serious note, It is impossible to have a discussion with such vague and generalized comments, so I won’t bother.

So you are currently happy with the GK and CB situation at the club are you?
It’s not about saying this player is crap that player is crap it’s about seeing the bloody obvious and blindly following Wenger is as stupid as abusing everything he does even Wenger makes tha odd mistake you know.

Actually this sight is part of the “we actually know a thing or two about football so we make our own judgements” and we see that Arsenal has a very bright future and that future started this season. Rather than say your kind of sight… ‘we don’t have a brain so we just listen to what the media spills out to us and then post our negative crap all over everyones blogs’

This is just defeatist gobbledygook. Other top clubs have managed to strengthen, even Liverpool in their dire economic plight. To suggest that nobody wants to sell is just not tenable. We have been linked with every defender that ever lived and even some that are dreams in their mothers’ eyes. Jet nothing has happened. Could this have something to do with the fact that we are begging them to come for free?

Want to buy player at the cheapest pricest is not a crime but a true economist. that why he got PHD and you don’t. And Once you buy by paying at odd, forever you have to do that. Liverpool pay 20M for Aquilani that play for 4-5 games.

agree with jimmy…
become a manager is not like football manager game…..
the money is real and u need to spend it wisely…
because of arsene, arsenal’s financial is stable..
there are some of failure-big-money signing.
aquilani and shevchenko is good example.
arsene got chamakh for free..
let say,if chamakh not perform well, no body will say anything because arsene get him for free.
now,he scored a goal in his SECOND game in EPL…..
if he score a lot for arsenal does it a very very good business by arsene??

whats his going price then? what does Bolton want for him? Yep its close to 18M thats the going price mate. That is why its hard to do transfares cos the prices are so inflated 😛
Clubs dont wanna sell. Thats why Cahill is 18M

How much did you think we would pay? remember smalling was 10M and chahill is mature and xperienced.

Another new excuse for Wengers failings in the transfer market. To allow 4 defenders to leave with just 1 replacement is nothing short of idioctic. I;m sure transfers are difficult but whats new? They only seem difficult when a players worth 15m and we offer 5m. For us to be just 2 weeks away from the close of the window and to have the same problems we have had for two seasons is just riddiculous. We have poor keepers and just 3 CH’s. This Saturday we only have one fit CH and with just one game gone. Wenger is inept and we are stuck with the dithering old buffoon for another 4 years.

Essentially, you’re saying you’re smarter than Wenger and you seem to have a better idea about the prices and how to do the deals. Why don’t you give Gazidis a call. Surely, you know how to reach him and how to convince him to give you the job. It pays a great deal more than what you make right now!

So to ask again, what does you smartass Arsenal fans think is the going rate for a top class Keeper or a top class CB or even a decent CB? Smalling was 10M, what you expect to pay for your favourits Cahill or Jagielka or Given? Or Schwartz? How much you think they are worth? What would you like Arsenal to pay?

Their respective clubs do not want to sell so silly money is required. Lets have an auction. What you think they are worth?

no that is an important question. Cos if Arsenal fans think the going rate for the Givens and the Cahills and the Hangelands in the world is 10m then they are seriousley disillusioned. And that is why they cannot grasp the fact its hard to do transafares. In todays market you can almost double the going rate for the good players. Look at the ridiculous price they wanted for spahic and hes not even famous!

So that is the most important thing for Arsenal fans to think about. How much does these players go for? Are players like Cahill worth 15-18M? or Jagielka? Are they? If you think so then yeh, AW is a cow. If you dont think so then you may understand why he has trouble signing quality…

@Boring where did you learn bisness? Ofc you wont get Cahill for 10M!Even with a wilsire loan to Bolton. Thats fairytale land mate. You may live in a fairytale where clubs sell their assets cheap. But this is reality. NO way Cahill would be sold for 10M if he was he would be in another club than bolton by now…..

@Boring “Plenty of foregin leagues to plunder?” dont you read? did you not just see that they the “foregin leagues” have great economy nowadays, they dont need your weak pound. They dont need to do buissness with PL unless they cough up some SERIOUS MONEY!

Why sell someting to arsenal if you cannot take twice the going rate? They dont need to sell, simple as that, and they know its hard to find good replacements. Pluss a CB need to be better than Nordtveit and equally good to KOS and VERM. They dont grow on trees you know….

So why did we pay £10m for Vermaelen and £8.5m for Koscienly?, surely they should cost double that?. When a club says you will have to pay £15m to get x player it is not always literal, what they are saying is you will have to pay a lot of money, perhaps £10-12m, they are trying to scare off predators.

Face facts – Wenger neglects defence in favour of attack and the only decent keeper he bought in was Lehmann, Germany’s number 2 keeper, when you know your weakness you play it safe but Wenger always thinks he can pull a magic rabbit out of his hat, well its not working anymore, the game has changed but he hasn’t.

4 defenders have left??
Have I counted wrong I thought it was 3.
I also thought we had brought in 1, promoted 1 from the youths and I believe we are going to buy one more
Is that right?
Please let me know if I cannot count
all the best another Dave

4 defenders left. Out of those Senderos didn’t play at all last year. Silvestre wasn’t rated by most.

Nordtveit can replace Silvestre. Djourou can replace Campbell. Kos can replace Gallas. Senderos never played. In that sense we are already covered but we need one more because Silvestre had some experience but Nordtveit doesn’t. Also, it gives better protection in case of injuries like last year.

Great post, only one thing I would question. Wenger says its hard to buy because teams don’t wanna sell. Well how many CB’s did we let go off? Seems like we’re selling pretty well. And if he knew the transfer market was gonna be so tough, why didn’t he keep Campbell another season to add to our bench, coz with Koszielny on a red, who’s gonna come in for him, Djorou? Just a thought…. Wenger did not wake up one morning and decide to let go of 4 CB’s, this was planned, so where was the planning for the replacements?
Yes, we know the transfer market is tough, but we are a wealthy club with an excellent scouting system so why is it coming down to the last 2 weeks to buy?
Where is the forward planning??

I’m guessing there was some complication with Campbell. It was reported that he was going to sign for us but it seems he changed his mind late. So he might have been Wenger’s choice. We don’t know how exactly that deal worked out. Whether Arsenal got a chance to make another offer to him before he changed his mind or was it sudden or what.

It could also be as sad mentioned. I don’t think any rational fan claims that Wenger is perfect. He could have underestimated the market or something like that. But these things happen in real life. We cannot go ballistic over such things.

Let’s not forget that Patrick Viera frequently blamed Arsenal for lacking ambition in the transfer market before he was hipped to Italy. He wasn’t alone in his criticism and a number of other top level Arsenal players made similar comments, including legendary Thiery Henry. More importantly, all such comments came out when we were not only winning the PL every now and then, but we were also at Highbury, meaning no crumbling debt of the Emirates to deal with.
For those who argue that the policy of rampant spending does not guarantee success should note that our stubborn policy of youth development hasn’t worked either, at least in the last five seasons. The answer, in my opinion, lies somewhere in between: a delicate mix of sustained youth development program coupled with strengthening the squad with some proven experienced players whenever required. None of the aforementioned solutions can ever deliver positive results on its own.
And remember that, if we win something meaningful this year-which I earnestly hope happens-, it would still be the triumph of experience over youth as most of our first team players have now been playing in the playing in the EPL for over 5 years and are far more experienced than most players playing for the bottom of the league teams.

Do you realize that around the time of Vieira Arsenal had a turnover of around a 100-120 Million? We’ve double our income in the last five years and have slowly paid the debt off. It doesn’t happen with a magic wand.

We could never have competed financially with the likes of United, who had a big stadium and a bigger brand, in those days.

The move to the stadium is a monumental achievement. Staying in the top four and maintaining strong financials is phenomenal. Just look at how many clubs want a new stadium but can’t get anywhere.

I agree with the idea of balance between youth and experience. But we had severe constraints over the last few years. The real estate slide crippled us and we had that whole highbury project that was hanging in the balance.

That is the reason Wenger said we didn’t have money earlier. And now that he has it, he wants to strengthen but it’s not all that easy.

Rubbish! buy before fooling us with your words that you have been doing since. Zapata and tasch both showed interest but arsene said nothing, he was there busy scouting martesacker which atlast dumped arsenal transfer talk. I think one day arsenal will turn to gymnastic store, there will be no guns talk more of gunners

Yeah Germany have no power in the market eh. I mean Dzeko has been begging to leave for two seasons and Wolfsburg have been turning down 40m bids from all over the place. What he meant is that German league is actually strengthening. Your examples just prove that point.

that is only 1 player, stuttgart sold khedira for £10m and ozil may go for the same, are they not worth it? think of it, ozil has more experience than diaby and nasri, would you not pay that fee for quality?

why did we not bid for westermann, kacar, diekemeir? we need defenders, and we do nothing.

ArdentGooner, you mention that Hamburg bought defenders but that doesn’t mean that they are any good?! Not all champion clubs buy….Man United’s most successful era is built around players whom Ferguson brought through the academy at the expense of experienced players. Tottenham have bought players, are they a champion club? same goes for Liverpool and Man City. We have money but it doesn’t make any sense buying a player who is being sold at 50% above what his true value is. And we don’t just buy kids…Arshavin, Sylvestre, Campbell, Eduardo, Hleb, Rosicky, Vermaelen, Chamakh……are they kids? YOu make some good points and believe me, I don’t think the sun shines out of wenger’s arse but I realy believe that he is trying to address the problem and we will sign a GK and CB. I think he wants to wait until the last few days to get a good deal which is a gamble but one worth taking if it saves us a few million. I hardly think we can lose so many points in the opening few games which we wouldn’t be able to claw back.

Hamburg bought Westermann (German international), Kacar (Serbia international), Diekemeier (German u-21 international) for just €500k more than we bought Koscielny. Tell me what deal you would prefer, 3 defenders, all experienced and internationally capped, or 1 defender that has had 1 season in top flight football for the same price?

city bought boateng for 11 million..
this guy can play anywhere along the back line, and in early 20..where was wenger or gazidis when city grab this boy? same old excuses,big club with small mentality..

ArdentGooner are you saying Hamburg are going to be the best defence in Bundesliga this year? If not then there is no point rattling names off … or you could try showing us how these three have quality to be competing for the Premiership title. We all saw the quality in Koscielny on the pitch against Milan and Liverpool. It’s up to you to show the quality of these players you claim are so great.

Also can you mention the prices so we know how you arrived at your figures.

ArdentGooner, I think I can kind of understand what you are trying to say but one thing that you seem to have overlooked is that there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between Hamburg bidding for a player and Arsenal bidding for a player. When we go in the price will always rise by about 20-30% because we are a premier league club with well managed finances and clubs know this. Look at what Bordeux tried with Chamakh. They turned down a bid of £5million for a guy in his last year of contract and quoted a price of £15million!!!!! That is why Wenger must be prudent and patient in the transfer market. He buys eary in the window so he can get in ahead of anyone else and late so he can get a good price. It is no coincidence that all the players who he buys late in the window are experienced….why? Becuase then he can hopefully get them at a better price and not have his pants pulled down!

Desi, I never said Hamburg will have the best defence, but they have at least tried. They have bought 2 very good defenders and another youngster with 3 years experience, that is 3 players for the same price as we bought 1 defender. So if Koscielny gets injured who will we have? Nobody. it’s also about numbers, we lost 4 defenders and have only bought 1, we could have got at least 2 for the same price as Koscielny, and Kacar can fill in midfield as well.

I won’t say Hamburg will have a good defence, fact is we needed to improve our defence, and Wenger says it is because the market is tough, which means he’d rather we had 3 CB’s than pay extra. If that is his stance, he isn’t desperate to win anything, which is a stain on this club.

Desi, I’m sure if you asked most analysts on the qualities of Westermann (full German international and leader of a defence coached by Magath must mean he has some ability), or the qualities of Kacar (full Serbian international and one of the players of the 08-09 season), it is easy to see the quality is there, and the prices they moved for, Wenger is lying saying the market is a problem.

I’m sure if Utd/Chelsea desperately needed defenders, they’d look at these players, difference is they don’t need them as they have players who have already won,. we are adding playiers who haven’t won anything, lets see koscielny handle drogba, because westermann handled all the big tough strikers he faced last year.

I’m not convinced that buying three players of average quality is a good idea and just because someone is an international doesn’t make them top class.

Neither of these defenders has played against really top quality opposition on a regular basis and given the fact that they haven’t been picked up by the bigger clubs one has to at least wonder if they are of that quality.

When I googled the transfers the prices I got were completely different from what you mentioned. The total of these three comes to about double of what we paid.

United paid more for Smalling who isn’t ready instead of going for either of these guys so your argument doesn’t really hold. And it’s not that United need home grown players, they have plenty.

Westermann is average? Kacar is average? I could give you Deikmeier, but those two are average? Have you seen them play before? Westermann has 3 campaigns in Europe, Kacar has played 1 campaign in Europe and has more league games than Koscielny and is younger.

See the thoughts of Rafael Hongstein on these two players, and see if he thinks they are average. Arsenal fans think we have the best players or scouts around, yet the results don’t show that, we sound dumb to rival supporters constantly saying we have players better than them yet we always fall flat, both on the pitch and in identifying talent to win titles.

If Westermann is average, what does that make Koscielny or Djourou? As for their transfer fees, check the club accounts, and the deals are structured meaning the outlay this season is lower than we paid for Koscielny, 75% of the fee has already been paid to Lorient.

Another big thing you need to remember, Utd don’t need starting quality CB’s, they already have a defence that has won the CL and league championship, we need starting quality players seeing as we let in over 35 goals a season, see the difference?

Nicw post, good read. Very different angle than the usual sites. There is some talent out there but personally I wouldn’t want to pay 15-20mil for cahill or jags, a few years back villa said he wasn’t good enough.
in response to danny who thinks wenger only wants to line his pockets….yawn. as if mate, he has a job to do and some of us take a bit of pride in what we do.
given great bshot stopper but his weakest aspects are crosses and commanding his box, fact. is he really the answer?

well as for me I do not buy Wengers nonsense whenever it comes to buying players that is when Arsenal dont find good ones to buy but when it comes to free transfer Arsenal will be ideal place…. other clubs are buying but we are busy signing 13, 11, 16 years old platers.. well very soon we will start buying players from their mother’s womb. All crap! enough of French connection on English soil GET GOOD PLAYERS AND SPEND BIG period!

If you want club that spend big, You are in a wrong club for about 10 years my friend. And should you still want to support club that spend big there are Manchester City. Manchester Unite, Chelsea, and even Real Madrid are quiet in transfer front this year.

The article makes some fair points but the fact is Wenger should have been looking for a keeper from day1 of the summer after acknowledging he made a mistake in not addressing the GK situation last year. The further fact that he is trying to buy a stop gap instead of a world class keeper that every top side needs simply infuriates fans like me even more.
We have not bid for Mertesaker he is seen as too expensive – we bid for Jagielka and I suspect that was before we signed Kos. We pulled out of signing Jagielka once the Kos deal had gone through. Why? Because Wenger now wants to spend 5-8m I’d guess on a further CB & a stop gap keeper. Not 30m on say Mertesaker & Manual Neuer.
When you only want to spend peanuts, yes it is very hard to find players that are better than what we have.
Many Arsenal fans want to know why we couldn’t spend a further 30m on giving this team the best chance possible of achieving success. We have the money, Gazadis has confirmed that. Your argument would be valid if we were trying to buy 2 world class players but were struggling to get a reasonable price for them. But we are not – we are trying to make additions by paying peanuts & that is the problem, how to find players that are good enough to play for Arsenal but cost next to nothing.

Wenger himself has said that we have the money, as I’ve mentioned in the article.

You’ve assumed that we’ve not bid for Mertesacker and that we’ve pulled out of the bid for Jagielka. No basis for either assumption. No acknowledgment that the clubs could have said no.

If we pay 20M plus for Jagielka and he gets injured (as he has in the past) or same for Mertesacker and he fails to adapt (has happened often with other big signings) then what do we do next?

You have a simple assumption that signing two big names will solve everything. The only certainty is that it will exhaust our money. Nothing else can be taken for granted. So if it doesn’t work what is our contingency plan? Anyone taking decisions has to consider all this and a lot more. And, unfortunately, he cannot work on baseless assumptions.

This is football and every transfer is a gamble and as in life and business sometimes you have to take a gamble if you want to get anything from your life/work.None of us know what players we might have bid for and you dont know that we have of haven’t so stop using that a your stock answer because you are assuming we may have bid for them but haven’t really any more clue than anybody else.

one one hand you say “every transfer is a gamble” on the other you say “sometimes you’ve to take a gamble” … there isn’t enough clarity in your thought process unfortunately.

Wenger gets it right more often than not. His transfers are not a shot in the dark but a very well thought out decision (even that has risks but much less than the generalized way you’re talking about it).

gamble??
there is no need to gamble…
most arsene’s signings are success…
pires, henry, vieira, hleb, fabregas, toure, vermaelen, RvP, arshavin and many more…
arsene look how they play first..
then he sign the player if he sees fit with his game..
i think arsene never gamble….

If the market is so complex and deals so hard to take place then why did Wenger let Campbell and Gallas walk? Campbell would have definitely stayed had a better offer come from The Arsenal. I am sure Gallas would have stayed if he were offered a longer contract. Why did Wenger get us into this position? Why did we not go for Given when he was available before Man City got to him?

as Desi says, it is a complex market. He has said in the past we will sign and he has come up short. So until he signs do not take it for granted a CB is coming in (I do not think Wenger is lying but buying a player is not like going into the supermarket and picking up some bread). Do not get me wrong and I will say this every time, no other manager could have kept Arsenal at the level for the past 5 yrs. Period. But his policy towards older player is bad news. Letting Gallas and Campbell walk and not replacing them as yet is not right. I am sure Wenger could foresee the problems he talks about in the market and should have planned accordingly.

Wenger talks a load of bollocks to cover up his negligence in the transfer market the defence the goalkeeper and holding midfielder of quality should have been sorted 3 years ago he has had six transfer windows to sort it

So I guess what many of you are saying is that Wenger is a) Less able to comprehend Arsenal’s needs than you and is in fact a terrible manager that you could do better than b) He knows what Arsenal’s needs are but is far too complacent/ mean to actually complete a transfer or c) He doesn’t want Arsenal to be successful and isn’t buying the players that you want just to wind you up.

I’m willing to wait till the end of the transfer window before I jump to any conclusions about activity or inactivity in the market. I’m personally curious to see what Nordtveit can do if he is played against Blackpool. I think he can be a strong player. As for goalkeeper, I do want a new one, but everybody getting on Wenger and Almunia’s case isn’t going to help anything.

Fact is, even if the worst players in the world played for Arsenal, I’d still continue to support this club 100%.

lmao!!!! there’s a reason wenger is arsenal’s most successful manager, and it aint cos he’s thick, senile, losing it or what ever else some so called supporters may say. to call urself a gunners supporter and then to imply wenger isnt doing his job right is surreal. he’s smarter than the majority of the blog land an the prem and has been a manager for a very long time yet it seems anyone can not only do what he does but they actually think they can do better!!!
and where are their credentials? buying a season ticket? being a fan for x amount of years? u make me sick. try supporting the team… you might like it.

It is astonishing that this article, which explains, in words of one syllable, how difficult it is to sign the player the Club WANTS, that 90% of you still do not get it? Fuck me. in my ideal world I would like Messi, a young Tony Adams and two paddy veieira’s in midfield. Aint going to happen eh? We have spent the whole summer fighting off the most disgusting tapping up campaign ever waged and we won. Cesc remains a Gooner. For this Mighty Club to then embark on a “want him, sell him to us” strategy would completely nullify the moral high ground we currently control. We are lacking cover in vital areas, but I can guarantee efforts are being made to TRY to put them right. As the Desi quite rightly points out, we are in touch with players and time will only tell whether deals can be completed. As four the four out and one in Central defence? Campbell? Great gooner yep, but less than half a season left in him. Silvestre? Fucking Manure spy, he was telling Ferguson all about our training regime and tactics from day one. Senderos? sorry Phil, a busted flush and genuinely sad about your long term injury. Gallas? a total cunt in the dressing room, upset the kids and good riddance. Pity Djourou still cannot shake his niggles but I am glad the four have all gone and it was great to see Kos march back on the field at Anfield, the man is a Gooner. Keep the faith. EIE

All those players you have abused were all signed by Wenger.Moral high ground,that is the problem he has been up there to long and now has lost touch with what makes a football club successful.Djourou,niggles you must be having a laugh with that comment let’s be realistic for fuck’s sake.

I cant think in here! Theres so many more pointless comments than usual! Is this what we have to look forward to for the rest of the season? I think that another contributing factor is that not many clubs have been given a budget to spend and many will be in the position where if they sell a player the manager doesn’t get all the funds to put back into his squad so in turn values for their own players have gone up like you said Desi. There are however a few options out there and I fully expect to see another solid defender but am 50 50 on whether we will see another keeper. In my eyes there could be a nice little deal available with Freidel as he has all the benefits that Schwarzer has plus is a slightly better keeper and has no manager at the moment. I think 2m plus Almunia would be a good deal for both parties. Lets not forget that Almunia has a lot more years in him than Freidel. Its just a possibility but one that would strengthen us to no end.

Freidel is another good keeper but isn’t he a couple of years older than Schwarzer? Also Villa right now might not be in a mood to sell. They aren’t letting Milner go easily and the same about Young. They will want a lot more than 2M

id be intrested to know what your reaction will be if we dont sign ne more players- do you seriously believe we can win the title with the current squad- you may start geting the usual excuse ready for your 10/11 season review- injuries. bad luck. etc etc- wev had 5 years of this somethn has to change

Don’t worry guys Football Manager is becoming more realistic with prices. Who have United signed? Who have Spuds signed? Look at our history we had consistency in the 30’s thats about it Wenger not perfect transformed us in the late 90’s to mid 00’s. United had a freak of nature youth players. Chelsea changed the face of the Premiership with their rich owner. Then City did it. Point is are Preston North End upset they are not as they were in 1888.

Desi i dont know why you bother mate. Theres no point in trying to discuss the intricacies of the financial markets with simpletons who would go as far as comparing Arsenal to Hamburg in a mindless ploy to attack Arsenals fiscal policies. Lets just be greatful that they dont have make those kinds of decisions for the club.

Get over it. Its difficult to purchase players. And the point on Germany was to highlight the fact that financially well run clubs like those in Germany have no need to sell precisely because they are financially sound. That is not to say they are swimming in abundant wealth, they are just stable and so have a strong standing in negoetiations involving selling their players.

The current case of our captain comes to mind. Had we spent copious amounts of cash on player purchase in previous seasons and been strapped for cash like liverpool and utd are then we would have had to sell our best players to balance the books so to speak.

The fact is we all want to win trphies, be filled with pride and be the envy of the PL. However winning trophies may build your clubs pride but its ability to balance to financial standing of your club is very limited and extremly overrated as utd are finding out. The only thing your trophies for pride over sound fiscal management is good for when it comes to money is numbing your knees when you need to beg Arab sugar daddies every other season to save you from you american pimp.

I’m not trying to win over the Doomers, that would be worthless anyway, but I think many reasonable fans have genuine concerns and I thought some of them will understand what Wenger is doing and the problems he is facing.

Alot of gunner fans have been yapping about signings and all but having watched the game last night its not signings that we urgently need its the attitude from the squad that will make or break our season. Their attitude has to change this season.Having watched all the opening games for the so called big four(still don’t consider spurs and city as big 4 not yet) i can astutely say that there is a vast difference in approach employed in their game…chelsea were chelsea anyway one would think with ballack and deco gone they would struggle a little bit but no they just went on working and though the score line was a little bit flattering nonetheless they still had the machine like approach that we have associated them with over the last 2-3 years very efficient and solid, liverpool showed alot of spirit after going down one man. But manchester utd stole the thunder with their two octogenerians scholes and giggs one would think they would struggle but like chelsea they went to work from the get go. which leaves my beloved arsenal seriously speakin barring the result why was arshavin non-existent in the game but more so why did wenger not bring in Gibbs instead or even Vela to add more ooomph in attack i am sure these two players would have been eager to impress.Its this lackadaisacal approach towards games from our so called star players and lack of strategy from our manager that will cost us points. Wenger also left it too late to bring in theo and rosicky an extra striker should have been added upfront from the start of the second half and put more pressure but what do i know.I watched how nani and valencia, park ji sung who were constantly dropping back in defence trackin back and also adding numbers in attack constantly thro’ the game. These players may not be branded as stars but i like their work ethic why cant arshavin,theo,diaby and core have the same attitude in games. Something has to give this season or else we’ll be saying the same things at the end of the season.

I think these most one sided post ever from you desi, It seem those cry babies have put you off on being fair. Let look at what Wenger said at begining of 2009 seasons. He told everyone that if within two years Arsenal did not win anything he would call it a day. Well just before his final season before his promised goodbye guess what? He sign new contract. Odd it baffling

Then he lied his way throughout last five years and these is the reason why people are fed up. For example he only told us in 2008 that club could not afford to buy any players on open market due to stadium debt, Fair enough why did not tell us earlier? Secondly why sell your best players before their time or release them for free etc Gilberto? why

If his youth policy was to work he should have tried to keep the older guys instead of giving them free to others. And guess just these World cup Gilberto has proved he still had a good years in him at higher level. The problem with Wenger is lies after lies and to me despite huge respect to him I cannot understand. In May he told the whole world that he agreed we needed new players Etc Goalie and Defender yet we are in August with two more to go before transfer window shut. Guess the only defender he bought is on red card yet he is still dithering on who to buy.

Last few seasons same mistake have been made on football side.Yet most fans have forgiven him and still supported Arsenal in most difficult period. What do they get in return?

Nothing but grief and if Arsenal FC is not careful most real supporters who pay more 5000 pounds a season on ticket and expensive array of replica kit, Travelling and general stuff are goner stop renewing their seasons tickets and give up for good. It happen these season and it would happen again soon. The issue is simple it not good enough to lie then come on media to cry it hard to buy player why just say we cannot afford to buy and get on with it.Most people are just fed up with lies and lack of dignity in defeat when hands down Wenger should accept Arsenal Fc is not good enough to win anything until players are bough side by side with those breaking through the academy.

It easier to blood players from academy when you are winning but not when you are losing all the time. It get harder and it simply waste of money to spend on youth who would end up elsewhere.

Arsenal fans despite all these are still supporting their club and it time AKBS shut up for once.

I don’t remember the comments about resigning so I can’t comment on that.

I don’t agree about Gilberto. All our current midfielders are better than him.

There are limits to what a manager can or cannot reveal. I wouldn’t call it lying.

Just look at how bad Tottenham were against Young Boys and you’ll realize the importance of reaching the quarter finals of the Champions League. They’ve spent so much yet they are not even close to Arsenal. It’s surprising that our own fans play down the achievements of the team and lose their minds over trophies alone.

There are some genuine concerns about the squad and ideally we should have finished out business by now. That is a bit of a negative no doubt but we also need to accept the reality we are facing.

He did say within two years just google it. Plus Gilberto was more experienced and it just seem handing the captaincy to Gallas demoralised him and he could no longer continue at Arsenal.

My points Arsenal even with World class players etc Bergkamp, Henry, Viera to name we have won more Silver medals than Gold. And when we did win it was always sweet. Looking at the Last two Arsenal managers minus Bruce Rioch. George Graham and Wenger have done wonders for Arsenal no doubt about it, With Wenger taking us to another dimension.

But Arsene Wenger has become isolated against Arsenal board once David dean left. It has also made him try another way for achieving success without spending Millions on new players. These has failed and he need to go back to drawing board, Buying experienced players bringing success would actually compliment his youth policy more than a team that is losing all the time.

The stupid thing about these people who yell spend!, spend!! is they’ve been yelling spend!, spend!! from day one. Which kind of makes their entire position unsustainable really because the only reason we appear to have money to spend now is because we haven’t been profligate in the past.

It is one thing to say that mistakes have been made, we wouldn’t be a human organisation if there’d been no mistakes but it is also true that we’ve been exceptionally well run. The fact is that the two teams who have achieved more than us in the past 5 years have outspent us by a factor of 10 or more. Others below us like Villa and Tottenham have outspent us by a factor of at least 3 if not more… and yet these geniuses insist that spending is the answer to everything…

As for the idea that people will surrender their season tickets… yeah right, surrender your season ticket and you ain’t getting it back. most people who can’t afford it are loaning theirs out…

You are wrong about people yellibng spend spend, It different with people like Legrove. But majority are just asking about our weakness defence and Goalkeeper full stop. It seem some people simply get aroused when Wneger name is mentioned Cool it dudes.

The problem with selling your players then not replacing has backfired in big way. One good example is Key players Viera, Henry, Pires,Lauren, Campbell, Freddie, Gilberto to name few where either given free transfer or sold without any replacement why?

Success on field would make big difference to financial position rather other way round. PLus was not a few season when he said that Wenger has 30 m kitty? he never spent it or it was another big lie.

My only bother with Wenger and AFC iS STOP LYING FOR HEAVEN SAKE WE ARE NOT KIDS. all these excuses after excuses does not hide facts that Wenger is simply reached his peak and it a climbdown all the way or let hope he get lucky.

I’m sorry but what you say doesn’t stack up… if we’d replaced Vieira with another player of Vieira’s class who was younger and better… how much do you reckon such a player would have cost any way? And did we have the money? If your answer is, well, don’t sell Vieira then you’d effectively be saying that Fabregas would have had to wait another season or two before coming into the side. What you seem to forget is that the young team you mention beat Vieira’s Juventus in Champions’ league with Fabregas and Gilberto. The problem for us actually was the loss of Flamini and Diarra at the same time. That killed us more than anything.

How do you replace a player like Henry? The guy had given us outstanding service and the team was young.. so Wenger let him go… and actually the team played better without him in it as even Henry himself admitted!

We are having success on the field it is just that there two clubs who have outspent us hugely while we’ve been paying for the stadium. It is hardly the worst thing in Arsenal’s history to finish 4th in such circumstances!

The club will say what the club needs to say as it is a business as well as a football club. If you are so mature you really ought to know as much. Wenger is an economist and as he said himself… money in the bank is not much good unless it is working for you… a look at our spending in the transfer market shows that what we get from transfers is always reinvested. That’s all you need to know. I’m sure that if Wenger could recruit a world class keeper without destroying his wage bill and sending us into debt he’d happily do it… but recruitment of players is more than just about the transfer fee… if you get Boateng and pay him more than Song… song’s agent is gonna be at the manager’s door and if Song gets a rise why not Arshavin.. and Chamakh and Clichy and Sagna… before you know it we’re in the poo.

You already answered my question, If we cannot replace why sell Diarra, Flamini or Adebayor or others who have gone?

It simple Wenger lack of activity in transfer Window last few years have made him make poor decisions. But to come in now and say we don’t have the money? three months before he told us in loud and clear that we have money and we would buy? what happened?

He is preparing us for disappointment at the end of August when reality would be no goalkeeper or CB IN SIGHT. lool

Talk about fawlty towers these really take the biscuits. Arsenal fans are simply being taken for a ride full stop.

Even crazier for me is this idea that “we are losing all the time” … says who? We were third last season and we were in the running for the league till almost the end. How is that losing all the time and how is such a campaign not a plus for the youngsters who were blooded in that campaign?

Sometimes I think that people just plain forget what Arsenal was actually like before Arsene fetched up. Towards the fag end of GG’s reign we had such great talents like Glenn Helder, John Jenson and Kris Kiwomya. We had player involved drunken car smashes and thrashing of fast food joints. we even finished outside the top 10 once…and we had Ian Wright, our star player, openly rowing with Bruce Rioch!

There is no reason whatsoever why we should assume that our current position is beneath us. Some of you guys need to get a grip…. today we are in situation where we can convince a world class player like Fabregas to stay at our club… back in the day Stefan Schwarz left us for Fiorentina, yes Fiorentina and we sold Andy Cole who ended up at ManU. You moaners really ought to give it a rest.

Already making excuses and excuses, Who care if we came third? it simply the manner Arsenal collapse against small teams Wigan, Blackburn that most remember.

Under Wenger last few years we tend to lost in big games all the time. Reality is if they stopped lying and made more effort everyone would not care if we just win Emirates cup. For few others who always demand win win they need to find another sport to support.

Arsenal lost games later last year because we have 6-7 first choice players missing. United struggled when their defence was missing (3-0 at Fulham) and when Rooney was injured. Chelsea were lucky Drogba and Lampard didn’t miss much.

Also the team didn’t have enough motivation after the Tottenham loss. These things happen. They are not good and but we should not lose our mind over them.

If I understand correctly, the move to Emirates was to help us compete with our rivals. So the earlier excuse was that we did not have money to compete and now the excuse is that the market is inflated. What is the point of “competing” in an imaginary, ideal market? The market is not what exists inside AW’s head but what is out there.

If you lack the ability to pay market prices for players then stop spouting drivel like, “We can compete with Chelsea financially”, etc. That is what frustrates me more than anything else. We just keep finding new excuses.

Excellent write again! 🙂 Some of them will never understand, some of them don’t want to understand, some of them do! For most, its prejudice and an envy looking at the likes of City. Arsene knows what we need, he is trying, there is no doubt whatsoever, hopefully we’ll get them by the end of the month. We’ll fight harder than ever this season and its time we show how things are to be done! Up the Gunners! Cheers Desi!

Great and intelligent article!. However, you must realize that if you ask all Arsenal fans to solve the sum 3+6, which should be easily solved, not all of us will get tit right. People cannot just get the obvious. It appears that we will have to live with it.
The transfer market is intricate, especially this year. Financial realities are finally catching up with clubs.
Those who have players they can afford to sell want the king’s ransom for them and those who want to buy cannot pay exorbitant fees. It is as simple as that. Those who do not get it can go on moaning. That is at least affordable for all who want.

Thanks Desi for an excellent piece.
I’m sure Arsene wants to strengthen as much as the next manager and not many will be more adept in the intricacies of transfer dealings! Hopefully we will have done some business when the window closes.

I’m not disagreeing with you but I have to say it’s not a brilliant excuse for Wenger.

I mean Man U have bought 4 players and there didn’t seem to be any problems with them. They weren’t long drawn out affairs where the whole world knew what was happening. They were actually shock signings. The sort Arsenal used to make.

Now it seems Wenger is all about getting a bargain. Which is all well and good but I really believe that Arsenal could sign a good defender if they were willing to spend the money. And i mean good money for a good player.

If we have such a good scouting network why is it that they cannot find a single defender or keeper that we can sign throughout the whole of the summer?

Why has the season started and we have 3 CBs of which only 2 are fit? And why do we have the same Keepers who cost us so many points last season only now they have even less confidence cos they know they time at Arsenal is limited?

Keepers always need confidence and need people to have confidence in them. Wenger can have all the confidence in the world in Almunia & Fabianski but the truth is the Fans have given up on them. THEY do not have confidence in them and they will pick up on that.

It is a massive failure on Wenger’s part and quite frankly it’s shocking management. Almunia even came out and said he cannot concentrate. Wenger thinks if he gives him the captain’s armband its all be fine, it seems thats his solution to everything!

Almunia needs to be sold, there’s not way back for him. Fabianski needs to be loaned out to a championship club to learn how to defend balls into the box and we need to buy Schwarzer and have Manonne or Schezney as no. 2.

United have signed the likes of Hernandez, Bebe, and others who are all unproven but talented youngsters. We already have plenty of that type.

One wonders why United have gone that way because it’s not their style. They always pluck the big names. It only further highlights the financial complications in the market. United wanted Benzema but couldn’t get him. They might have been interested in Ozil but again couldn’t get him.

Arsenal won’t have problems in signing younger players. It’s getting the real pros that’s a very difficult task as we can see no club apart from City has made many big moves.

When Chelsea did it everyone else was far behind so it was relatively easier for them. They also had a manager who could make his team defend like mad in all the games. It won’t be easy for City. I think they will really struggle for a top 4 spot even.

Wud have been a good article if you took into consideration the fact that 1. wenger has @least 25years experience in the business
2. He has had years(or months if you want) to deal with the issues, &do the business
3. Other managers are managing to get good players(not silvestre-like), many times for free other times for reasonable amounts eg cole,jovanovich to liverpool,the eto’os, sneiders,lucio,dat macedonian etc @inter; cavalho etc
4. our own best players(except fab of course) seem to go easily &cheap too, no need to mention just browse 4urself
5. We get this crap every year, arshavin even had to pay his way here, chamakh almost had to become a terrorist
My take is either wenger is terrible @negotiation &people want to bargain with him or his valuation of the clubs player’s is so low or players don’t want to come to a club where they don’t have prospects of winning or he’s just toying with us so he can give the opportunities to his boys
Solution? Wenger should identify his player let others do the negotiation(that’s if he wants to buy) or maybe get a manager who’s serious about winning

How many of those cry babies are in positions “with some practical experience of decision making and negotiations” as you said. Forget them, they cannot and they don’t want to understand such complex issues.

He actually mentions that Almunia is a better GK than Schwarzer and Given. I will leave that discussion for a later time. But the reminder of his article emphasizes on exactly what this blog has discussed time and again.
The bigger problem is the collective inability to deal with set-pieces and a general lack of confidence amongst the back 4. Not sure how much a new GK can change things.

all i can say is that i am somewhat disappointed at the fact that we have the money yet we are not willing to go out there and spend it even when we know we have problems at the back.
Also of concern is the fact that almost every Arsenal transfer dealing that has been done for a first team player in the past few years has been protracted. we need to spend good money if we are going to get good players into the club. no one is asking him to go out there and sign world class players, simply go out there and sign players that can come in and get the job done.

the market cannot be hard for arsenal alone, there are teams out there that have better squads and have added onto them, you look at Real Madrid they have added players like Carvalho, Pedro leon, Khedira, Ozil at almost bargain prices. Chelsea has added Benayoun and Ramires into a squad that had lost a good number of midfield players in Deco, Ballack and Cole. united added Smalling despite the fact that they had a big CB contingent, have added Hernandez and now Bebe.

We on the other hand have had two years of a bad keeping lineup, knew last season that we were short at the back……are still short and havent really added. i like Wenger, i love that he has extended his contract, but at times it is hard to live with the fact that transfers are extremely hard to get done for us as a club when there are teams out there that are signing. good players come at a cost, but we simply are not willing to do that most of the time